Fisher Sets Whiteford Mark

Freshman Rachel Fisher ran into the Whiteford record books Saturday at the Chelsea Invitational held at Hudson Mills Metropark.

Fisher completed the course in 20:49 to take eighth in a field that featured several Division 1 schools. She broke Maureen Gibbs’ record of 21:15, which was set in 2006. Earlier in the week, Coach Jim Hojnacki predicted Gibbs’ record would fall at Hudson Mills.

“I have a feeling Rachel or Ashley (Daniels) could do it. The course runs fast. We’re running against talented teams who will push us. And the weather will be nice and cool,” Hojnacki said Thursday.

Fisher’s performance led Whiteford to a fifth place finish in the freshman/sophomore race. Also running strong was Ashley Daniels, who was 13^th in 21:39. Daniels and Fisher have spent the season battling to be the fastest Bobcat. She was just 14 seconds off Gibbs’ old record.

 Grace Hojnacki (38^th, 23:38), Clairesse Rickert (46^th, 24:32) also had strong races. Paige Long (26:04) and Marissa Brodbeck (26:20) also had personal bests.

In the junior-senior race, Taylor Kiefer was 27^th in a personal-best 22:58.

The Whiteford junior-senior boys took 11^th. Dylan Esterline led the way (45^th, 20:15). Luke Cline was 61^st and David Schmidt was 76^th. Elliot Wollam was 43^rd in the freshman-sophomore race.

Whiteford runs again Saturday at the Hudson Boosters Invitational.